DC

DM

DnD/D&D

ECL

GP

Gold Pieces

Griefing

A griefer's actions include kill stealing, player killing, stealing dropped items, and general harassment. Griefers may harass other players through skill abuse (for example, healing or buffing a monster which another player is trying to kill or other methods.

What is common amongst griefers is that they are not there to play the game others are playing; rather than playing "PvE" (Player vs. Environment) - which is what the games are typically programmed for - they play a meta-game. In this meta-game, there are no rules of engagement, and the objective is to make someone else miserable. The viewpoint of a griefer is that if he or she can ruin your play experience, or even drive you to log out in frustration, then he or she has won, and you have lost. Therefore becoming angry, verbally abusing, or even counterattacking a griefer cannot discourage them, because it proves that they have been successful in manipulating and disrupting your experience.

HIPS

A feat that makes it possible to Hide In Plain Sight. See Shadowdancer.

Hit dice

Equals levels. Hitdice sounds poshier, and using this term instead of the widely understood 'levels' advertises you as a DnD expert.

IC

In Character (IC) refers to the world of the characters, rather than the world of the players. That is, a character talking to another character is an IC interaction, set within the IC world, while two players talking about a football game or their real lives is an Out of Character ('OOC') interaction.

Metagaming

To use OOC information IC without your character having that knowledge.
Metagaming is for losers.

NPC

A non-player character or non-playable character (NPC) is a character whose actions are determined by the gamemaster. Non-player characters populate the fictional world of the game - from the friendly innkeeper to an agitated dragon. Non-player characters (NPCs) might be allies, bystanders or competitors to the player characters (PCs).

OOC

OOC means "Out of character" and refers to things said by the author of the message, rather than by the character(s) that author is playing. Most online role-playing communities make allowances for the intrusion of "RL" (real life) by introducing standards of communication, such as insisting that all "OOC" comments are placed inside brackets, or given some prefix, for example "// Blast, the phone's ringing again, I'll go and pull it out of the wall."

PC

A player character or playable character (PC) is a fictional character, controlled or controllable by the player.

PK

Player killing, or PKing, is nonconsensual and usually random. An aggressor attacks an opponent without agreement to any set of rules of engagement or combat. This can include raiding spawns, camping towns, and any other action which constitutes griefing another party.

PnP

PrC

PvE

Many new MMORPGs advertise themselves as being Player versus environment, or PvE, meaning there is more depth to the interaction between the player and the game than merely killing monsters the traditional way, cf. Player versus monster, mainly in the form of scripted events, and that the game specifically does not focus on PvP combat.